Bastard Out of Carolina

After completing this book, I felt saddened by the life Bones had. Since she was young, she has been physically, verbally, and sexually abused by Glen. Glen took all of his frustrations out on Bones, and I couldn't imagine living my life like she had to. I wish she would have had the courage to tell her mother the first time it happened, then maybe she could have lived a better life. But she didn't say anything to anyone about the abuse because she was scare and blamed herself for what Glen was doing to her. I think that Glen abused Bones because he was verbally and psychologically abused by his father. His father would constantly talk about his failures, and I believe that this is where all of Glens problems began. On page 99 there is an example of what Glen's father thought of him, "his father had delivered his lecture on all things Glen had done wrong in his life of failure and disappointment." I feel that Bones mother, blinded by her love for Glen, ignores the signs of abuse.

As Bones gets older, and the abuse gets more frequent and intense, she begins to show signs of an abused child. Sexual fantasies, masturbating to visions of abuse, and the horrible stories she tells are all signs of something seriously wrong. On page 112 Bones said, "my fantasies got more violent and more complicated as daddy Glen continued to beat me with the same two or three belts he'd set aside for me." Bones will probably be scarred by her mistreatment for the rest of her life.

I found the ending to be very disturbing. Glen showed up at the house to talk to Bones about getting back with her mother, and when Bones tells him what she really thinks about him she gets severely beaten and raped. I thought glen was a disgusting character, and I was glad when Anney caught him in the act of sexually abusing and beating Bones because maybe now she will wake up and truly see Glen for what he is. Then Bones can finally be free of his abuse. After Anney put Bones in the car to bring her to the hospital, I couldn't believe that she began to comfort Glen after he hurt himself by banging his own head on the door. On page 291 I read, "She was holding him, his head pressed to her belly." This is a perfect example of how blinded Anney was by her love for Glen. If I were in her shoes, I could care less about Glen hurting himself, all I would care about was bringing my daughter to the hospital to get medical care and having him arrested. I think Anney should have never went back to Glen after she first caught him abusing Bones. Then maybe Bones would have lived a better childhood. The one thing that really bothered me about this book was that Anney ignored all of the signs of abuse that Bones had.

Bastard Out of Carolina

When I first read the title of the book, A Bastard Out of Carolina, I thought it would be about a disobedient child. As I began reading, I quickly realized that the book was about a women and her two children strugging to make it in life. It seems like nothing can go smooth for Anney Boatwright. When ever she begins to feel a sence of happiness and comfort, something goes wrong. She is an attractive woman who is from a large family who are all very close to one another. She shares close relationships with each family member, and their family is known for drinking and fighting. Her mother chased away the father of her first child called Bone, and I can't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently for Anney and her two girls if he had been allowed to stay in their lives. It seems like Anneys mother made a wrong choice by not wanting him in their lifes because he messed with her daughter when they weren't married. Thats where the name "bastard" comes from in the title. "Bastard" refers to an illegitimate child. In chapter 1 on page 3 Bone says, "there I was-certified a bastard by the state of South Carolina."

I was happy to see that Anney quickly found happiness with her first husband Lyle. She referred to him as gentle and caring in the book, and they soon had a child together who they named Reese. Everything was going well with her Anney and her two children until the deadly accedent occured. She lost her husband and began crying herself to sleep at night. I couldn't imagine going through something like that. Having someone you love so much taken away from you unexpectadly like that. If that accedient never occured, Anney and her two children would have probably led a happy life, free from all of the abuse which will soon take place with her second husband Glen.

When Anney married her second husband Glen, it seemed that she finally found love again. Things soon began to go horribly wrong for Anney and her two girls. Poverty is a constant problem. I think it was Glen's inability to be successful in life like his brothers, and not having gained the respect of his father that led him to be so frustrated, jealous, and emotionaly disturbed. Glen seems like he is trying to hide his full character behind his love for Anney. He is fully dependent on her and violently possessive of her.

I couldn't believe it when I read chapter 4, Glen actually sexualy abused Bone. I found that part very hard to read because I didn't want to picture that happening. I think the real struggles in Bone's life begin once her mother married Glen. Bone was so young, and all of Glen's frustrations seemed to be taken out on her while her mother turns her head. After the sexual encounter with Glen, sexual fantasies begin to arise. On page 63 Bone said, "Sex. Was that what daddy Glen had been doing to me in the parking lot? Was it what I had started doing to myself whenever I was alone in the afternoons?" I couldn't belive it when she began to describe her sexual fantasy. I have a feeling that when I continue reading this book I'm going to see a lot more abuse given by Glen on Bone. It's so sad that Bone has to be subjected to that.

The Heaven of Animals

My favorite James Dickey poem in the packet was tittled, The Heaven of Animals. I especially liked this poem because I myself, am an animal lover. The title of this poem is what first caught my attention because I love to read anything about animals. After I finished reading it, which I had to read a few times to make sense of some of the verses, I realized that Dickey was describing what a paradise for animals would look like. This poem takes a look into the paradise and afterlife awaiting all animals.

Once an animal dies, it goes into animal heaven. In animal heaven, there are no humans controlling and abusing animals, and there is plenty of food and water. In the beginning of the poem Dickey writes, "If they have lived in a wood, It is a wood, If they have lived on plains, It is grass rolling under their feet forever." Here, Dickey is describing the perfect habitat of each animal. If it were a tiger it would be free to roam the plains, and if it were a squirrel it would be free to run around the woods in the animal heaven. Each animal would be free in it's appropriate environment.

Dickey also writes, "The landscape flowers, outdoing, desperately, outdoing what is required: The richest wood, the deepest field. For some of these, It could not be the place it is without blood, These hunt, as they have done, But with claws and teeth grown perfect." This means that the environments in which the animals will live in will be perfect, which is why I call it a paradise for animals. Even though it is a paradise for animals in heaven, hunting is still present because some animals like lions and tigers need to hunt to survive, it is in their nature. Their perfect paradise would be hunting other animals. When I first read that part I was a little surprised because if animals were hunted, how is it a paradise for them? Animal heaven was supposed to be a paradise for all animals. Then I read, "And those that are hunted, Know this as their life, Their reward: to walk. I loved that part. To me, it sounded like Dickey was saying that when an animal was hunted and killed in animal heaven, they are reincarnated into a human.

A Streetcar Named Desire, Play vs. Film

I enjoyed watching the movie because it brought the play to life. I was able to see what the characters looked like in life, and see what the small apartment looked like. While reading the play I had to use my imagination. During the movie, I noticed similarities to the play, along with some differences.

One of the similarities between the movie and play that I noticed were the use of words used by the characters. The words in the movie seemed to be identical in the play. Another similarity was the plot. The plot of the movie followed the structure of the play. Blanche and Stanley also had the same characteristics in the play as they had in the movie. Stanley being muscular, unpredictable, quick to the point, controlling, and violent. Blanche being lonely, desperate for attention, dramatic, and unrealistic. All of these characteristics showed in the movie just like in the play. But the movie showed their characteristics better because I was able to see the use of body language and facial expressions. I was able to see how Stanley and Stella's relationship was based on physical attraction just by watching how they used their body language after the fight they had during poker night. When Stella went upstairs to Eunice's place to get away from Stanley, Stanley began screaming her name outside to get her attention because he missed her and he was sorry. In the movie I was able to see the body language and facial expressions of Stella and Stanley after the fight. They looked at each other seductively and you can tell that they were very physically attracted to one another. I knew right away what they were going to do next. The book describes this scene on page 653, "They stare at each other. Then they come together with low, animal moans. He falls to his knees on the steps and presses his face to her belly, curving a little with maternity. Her eyes go blind with tenderness as she catches his head and raises him level with her. He snatches the screen door open and lifts her off her feet and bears her into the dark flat." In the book it sounded like they were being very gentle with each other and making up, but when I watched that scene in the movie I could clearly see the sexuality between the two.

In the movie I was able to see places that were only mentioned briefly or not at all in the play. For example, in the beginning of the play I read that Stanley was at the bowling alley, but I was never brought there by the reading. Blanche waited in the house for Stanley and her sister Stella to return. But in the movie, Blanche went to the bowling alley to find her sister Stella. In the bowling alley I was able to see Stanley and the guys arguing, while Stella ran up to Blanche and greeted her so happily. Another example is the "dance place" in the movie where Blanche told Mitch about what happened to her husband. This scene wasn't even mentioned in the play. Another scene that was in the movie but not in the play was the factory scene. In the factory scene Stanley tells Mitch about Blanche's past. This scene portrays Mitch's shock and disbelief towards the rumor, then we witness a fight between the two. Another difference that I noticed between the play and movie was the scene where Mitch turns the light on and studies Blanch's face. In the book Mitch says, "I don't mind you being older than what I thought." The same line is said in the movie but we were able to see Blanche's face , rather than just picturing it in our mind. We were able to see the winkles in her face.

The rape scene was also very different in the movie than in the play. I thought that it sounded more violent in the play, than in the movie. In the movie they didn't show Blanche getting thrown on the bed by Stanley, they just showed Stanley grabbing Blanche's arm, then it cut to a different scene. They probably had to cut a lot of that out in the movie because in the time that the movie was made people had different views about violence being portrayed in movies, which is also probably why their was no talk about homosexuality in the movie like there was in the play.

The ending was different from the movie too, and I like this ending a lot better. Instead of Stella taking Stanley back like what happened in the play, she didn't in the movie. When Stanley went to grab Stella to bring her back in the house Stella said, "don't you touch me, don't you ever touch me again. I'm never going back in there again, not this time." I was so happy when she said that. When I read the play I couldn't believe that Stella took Stanley back after he did something so violent. But in the movie she realized that it was wrong for Stanley to push himself onto Blanche and rape her, and she ended up making it known that she believed her sister over Stanley. In the play she made it clear that she didn't believe her sister so she could stay with Stanley, even though deep inside she knew she was wrong. I definately like the movie better than the play because of that last scene.

A Streetcar Named Desire

The title, "A Streetcar Named Desire," is what this play was all about. A streetcar brought Blanche to the home of her sister Stella and her sisters husband Stanley, and the main theme of the play was about desire. Desire is what caused Blanche to be driven out of her hometown, and it describes the relationship between Stella and Stanley. Fantasy, loneliness, and cruelty were also themes that I saw present in the play.

Fantasy was Blanches primary means of self defense. She seems to tell things how they should be, but not how they really are. In scene ten, Blanche tries to convince Stanley that she is going away with a rich man that she used to know. Blanche: "I received a telegram from an old admirer of mine." Stanley: "Anything good?" Blanche: "I think so. An invitation." Stanley: "What to? A Fireman's ball?" Blanche: "A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht." I think that she tells stories like this because it is a way for her to block out her memories of sorrow. She went through so much in her hometown, and I believe that when her husband shot himself it really traumatized her. I wonder what Blanche found out about her first husband to make him want to shoot himself? In the end, Blanche's fantasy was shattered by Stanley, and I think that was the reason for me not liking him. In the end, I was hoping that Blanche, Stella, and the baby would move away together, leaving the drunken, violent, and rapist Stanley behind.

Loneliness was a characteristic of Blanche. Throughout the play she seeked companionship and protection, and never recovered from her first husbands death. When Blanche first met Mitch, I thought to myself, "maybe he'll make her loneliness go away." I think Blanche could have been so happy with Mitch, but Stanley destroyed their relationship. Maybe Mitch could have been the one to take her away from her fantasies, bringing her back to reality.

Cruelty was a characteristic of Stanley. He's also controlling and doesn't have much self control. In scene five Stella and Stanley get into a big fight over a radio playing, "She turns the knob on the radio and it begins to play. Blanche waltzes to the music with romantic gestures. Mitch is delighted and moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear. Stanley stalks fiercely through the portieres into the bedroom. He crosses to the small white radio and snatches it off the table. With a shouted oath, he tosses the instrument out the window." Then an argument develops and Stella and blanche end up going upstairs to Eunice. Stanley acts like this often, and this fight was over a little radio playing.

I couldn't believe the ending. Stanley actually rapes Blanche. After all Blanche has been through he still forces himself on her, and it must have been obvious to Stanley that she was mentaly ill. Worst of all, Blanche's own sister took Stanleys side over hers. In scene eleven Stella says, "I don't know if I did the right thing." Then, "I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley." It seems to me that she believes her sister, but is not ready to leave Stanley because of their new baby. I couldn't believe that she made that choice. If it was consentual sex between Blanche and Stanley maybe I could see Stella forgiving Stanley, but he forced himself on Blanche and raped her. I don't understand how Stella could forgive him for that. Why would she want to be married to a rapist? I wouldn't even be able to look at that person anymore. Stella makes the decision that Blanche should be taken away by a doctor, and I think that was the right choice. But I think Stella should have taken her baby and leave with Blanche.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

I thought the book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Hurston, was very enjoyable to read. There was so much happening in the story that I didn't want to put it down because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. When I first read the title I thought the book was going to be about issues with race, but race was not the central theme although these issues were present in the book. I thought "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was about Janie's quest to find out who she is, which is why the title shows spirituality. Throughout this book Janie achieves a strong sense of self and comes to appreciate her independence. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was Huston's continuous use of southern black dialect. I know that the dialect is an important part of the book, but after awhile I got tired of reading that kind of language.

The book starts off with a passage on page one that reads, "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly." In this passage Hurston is talking about gender differences, she is establishing a difference between men and women. To me, it sounds like Hurston is saying that men have dreams they never lose and will always follow, and that women don't have dreams they follow. Women just live their lives according to what they already have.

In the beginning of this book Janie's grandmother told Janie that she had to marry Logan even though their was no love present. When Janie told her grandmother that she wanted to marry for love and that she didn't love Logan, the grandmother didn't seem to care about that. I believe that the grandmother forced Janie to marry Logan out of love because she wanted to make sure that Janie was taken care of after she had passed away. The grandmother knew that Janie would be all alone, so she wanted to find someone to take care of her, giving her food, shelter, and protection. I think that the rape of her mother played a big role in the decision. The grandmother wanted to make sure nothing like that would ever happen to Janie. At first I thought to myself, "I would never marry someone I didn't love," but after I thought about it some more I realized that in that time period women didn't have a lot of opportunity, they needed a good man to provide for them. It's sad to think of love being absent from a marriage. I don't think I could ever be truly happy in a marriage if I had a man that was a good provider, but with the absence of love.

When Jody took Janie away from Logan I was so happy. Logan didn't seem like a bad guy and it seemed that he really cared for Janie, but Janie was unhappy with him because love was missing. I finally thought that Janie had found her true love with Jody, but quickly found out that I was wrong. Jody seemed to only care bout his work as a mayor, and would often alienate Janie from socializing with the people in their town. When Jody died, Janie didn't grieve over him. The last person she married in this book was a young guy named Tea Cake, and Janie had finally found the love she was seeking for with Tea Cake. Tea Cake is a very positive character, and the gender roles seem to stop with him. Janie is now equal with Tea Cake, and began to do things for the first time like hunting and playing games. He had given her the life that she had dreamed about and she loved him even after his death. "Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking" (193). I thought these sentences showed how much Janie truly cared for Tea Cake.

One of the issues of race that stuck in my mind was in chapter 16. Mrs. Turner didn't seem to like Tea Cake because of his dark black skin, and would constantly question Janie about why she was with him. On page 141 Mrs. Turner said, "If it wuzn't for so many black folks it wouldn't be no race problem. De white folks would take us in wid dem. De black ones is holdin' us back." Mrs. Turner is going against her own class of people just because she has white features. Another issue of race I noticed was in chapter 19, the court scene. The white people seemed to be with Janie, and the black people against her. I think that the black people were against her because it was a black man that was murdered and they were upset with Janie being found innocent. They thought that if she had killed a white man she would have been found guilty. On page 188, a paragraph described how Janie felt about being on trial. "It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding. If they made a verdict that she didn't want Tea Cake and wanted him dead, then that was a real sin and a shame. It was worst than murder." I took this as Janie being more concerned about what people thought of her than for being convicted of the murder. She wanted people to know that she truly loved Tea Cake and that she would never do anything to harm him. If she was convicted of killing Tea Cake because she wanted him dead, then she would have been thought of as never loving him or caring about him, and that was not what she wanted people to think. She wanted them to know her true feelings about Tea Cake.

I thought that the last few sentences were about Janie reflecting back on her life, "The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see."

The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

I enjoyed reading "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" by Richard Wright because it was simple, direct, and had a real sense of purpose. Although, reading about the segregation system in the south upset me. It was hard for me to read about how unfair people of color were treated even though they worked so hard and were very kind. Throughout the reading, it seemed to me that Richard was trying to make the best out of what he had. In the beginning on page 548, Richard said, " Nothing green ever grew in that yard. The only touch of green we could see was far away, beyond the tracks, over where the white folks lived. But cinders were good enough for me." The simple things made him happy. When Richard and his friends got into a fight with a few white kids and Richard became injured, I couldn't believe how his mother treated him. She was outraged for him getting into a fight with the white kids and even beat him. There was no sympathy for Richard, and I think that's what he wanted. I do understand that Richards mother was trying to protect him from white people, which is why she acted like that, but I think a little sympathy and love would have been good. Maybe they could have talked about it instead of his mother using verbal and physical abuse. He had already been through enough.

As I continued to read this story, I made a connection with Frederick Douglass. Richard Wright reminded me of him. Wright had the same drive that Douglass had, which was the desire of learning a trade. They both also went through many hard times while they were growing up, and both wanted to do things that society wouldn't allow them to do. I also thought they were both very clever and smart because they knew what to do in difficult situations. The way that Frederick learned from the white children, and the way that Wright acted in the elevator towards the white man taking his hat off for him are examples of both of them being smart and clever.

Richard Wright learned so many valuable life lessons at all of his jobs. He learned to do only what he was hired for, not to ask to learn anything new, and to mind his own business, paying no attention to whats going on around him. He had to learn the hard way at his first job. Pease and Morrie seemed to like Richard at first and they all seemed to talk a lot together. But once Richard asked them if he could learn a new trade things changed. Pease and Morrie became very upset with Richards request, and they changed towards him. They no longer talked to him anymore, and became very cruel towards Richard. They both soon drove Richard out of the job by giving him no choice but to leave, in less he wanted to get hurt very badly. On page 551 Richard said, "If I had said: No, sir, Mr. Pease, I never called you Pease, I would have been automatically calling Morrie a liar. And if I had said: Yes, sir, Mr. Pease, I called you Pease, I would have been pleading guilty to having uttered the worst insult that a Negro can utter to a southern white man." It's obvious that both men made this up to drive Richard out. This was all about power, and Pease and Morrie didn't want Richard to learn a trade because they didn't want him to be equal to them. This imbalance of power happened a lot in this reading.

Race mixing also happened in this reading like it did in Douglass (554). The bellboy was forced to marry one of the maids because he was accused of sleeping with her and getting her pregnant, but when the baby came it was light. I believe that the bellboy never slept with her, he even denied it. I think a white man slept with the maid and got her pregnant, then it was covered up by forcing the bellboy to marry with her. The white men also had a joke about this, "some white cow must have scared the poor girl while she was carrying the baby." I still don't understand what that means, but I do know that they were making fun of the situation because her baby came out white. The white men had so much control and power over black people, and it is played out throughout this entire reading.

Katherine Anne Porter

As I was reading "The Source," I quickly realized that the Grandmother, Sophia Jane, had a big influence on the people around her. She was full of personality, and had a leadership role in the story. The African American people who worked for her would complain about their living situations to her, and Sophia Jane would make sure their needs were met. Sophia Jane also seemed to like everything clean and organized, and was big on authority. I got the sense that her grandchildren loved her very much, but were also happy to get away from her at certain times due to her strict leadership role. Sophia Jane seemed to have such a caring heart, not only did she care greatly for the people around her, she also took great care in the animals she owned.
Once I started reading "The Old Order," I realized how much Sophia Jane hated change. The values she had are values from the old south, getting married, having children, disciplining your children, and men working. She seemed to love the past because she would always talk about the past. On page 12 Sophia Jane and and Nannie said that, "children were conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. Childhood was a long state of instruction and probation for adult life, which was in turn a long, severe, undeviating devotion to duty, the largest part of which consisted in bringing up children." I thought that was a strange way of child rearing.
On pages 12-14, I finally figured out who Nannie was. She was an African American girl who was bought for Sophia Jane to be her playmate. I thought it was really sad that Nannie was taken away from her parents because someone wanted to buy her. On page 14 I read, "I want the little monkey, I want that one to play with." That is what Sophia Jane said to her father. I think that the only good that could have come of Nannie being taken away from her parents was that she was free of hard labor. Instead of being worked to exhaustion, she was able to grow up as a playmate to another girl, and they grew up to be the best of friends. It's sad that she was taken away from her parents and sold like she was nothing to another family, but I think it gave her a better life. Nannie even celebrated her birthdays. At first she didn't know when her birthday was, but Sophia Jane closed her eyes and pointed to a day on the calender, and that day was to be her birthday. She even guessed the year she was born. Once her date of birth was determined Sophia Jane wrote it in the family bible with everyone else' s. I think this gave Nannie a sense of belonging and importance, also feeling that she was cared for by others.
Later on in the story I read about a change that Sophia Jane didn't like. She didn't like how the role of women was changing. She seemed upset that one of her sons married a "wild women." She didn't like her daughter-in-laws direct way of speaking, walking, and talking. Sophia Jane didn't like that her sons wife had to have her way about everything, and she compared her to the "new woman," who wanted to vote and make her own living.
I liked how Sophia Jane and Nannie were such great companions. They seemed to enjoy each others company a lot. Sophia Jane even breast fed for one of Nannies babies when she was ill. Sophia Jane didn't care about how much her husband told her not to breast feed that baby. She just wanted to help out her friend. They both seemed to have lived honest and spiritual lives. Even though Nannie enjoyed where she was, she was still very saddened by slavery. On page 23 I read, "She could not understand why God, Whom she loved, had seen fit to be so hard on a whole race because they had got a certain kind of skin." I feel that she blames God for slavery.
"The Witness" reminded me of the Frederick Douglas readings. Uncle Jimbilly told stories of how horrible the slaves used to be treated, going into gruesome details. It was very difficult for me to read about the torture slaves encountered in the Frederick Douglas readings, it gave me feelings of sadness and disgust, and I had those same feelings in this one. I don't believe anyone should have had to live their lives like that.

Dry September, By William Faulkner

I thought this story showed us how unfair it was for African American people in the south of that time period. Based on a rumor in the town, a black man named Will Mayes was accused of a crime which possibly could have never happened. It seemed like some of the men in the barber shop randomly picked a black man to be the suspect in the rape of a white woman named Minnie Cooper. Without any evidence that a crime has actually taken place, Will was chosen to be the rapist based on his skin color. Just because Minnie said that the rapist was black, doesn't mean that it was Will. I thought it was so unfair that no one even bothered to look for evidence against him, beginning with his where abouts on the night of the crime. But I guess back then no one cared. If you were African American you had no rights according to most of the white people of the south in that time. Only one white man was brave enough to stand up for Will, and that man was a Barber named Henry. I liked how he spoke from his heart regardless of what others might think about him. Henry new that he lived in a raciest town, but he still tried to convince the others that he didn't believe Will committed the crime, and even mentioned that a crime may have even never existed. It was sad that no one else thought like Henry.
When the men who accused Will of the crime decided to get their revenge by going after Will, Henry went with them in hopes of stopping them from harming him. But he could do nothing. I thought it was sad when he jumped out of the moving car because he didn't want to see what was going to happen to Will. The story never described Will's fate, but it seemed that he was killed once he was taken because McLendon had a gun with him, and because some men in town had a few words to say about the incident, "What did they do with the nigger? Did they_? Sure. He's all right, all right, is he? Sure. He went on a little trip." Then someone else said, "Do you see? There's not a Negro on the square. Not one." It really bothered me to read that because Will never even had a chance once he was labeled as a rapist.
I don't even believe that a crime was committed. I think that Minnie made it up because she was depressed and desperate for attention. She was almost 40 years old and single. Guys never looked at her anymore and all of her friends were married with children of their own. When she was in the movie theater and started to laugh nonstop, I think she was happy that she was the talk of the town again, just like she used to be when she was younger. She was proud of herself for finding a way for people to notice her again, and because of it, a man was more than likely brutally murdered. It's sad that Will never had the chance to defend himself, and that it was only after his death that people began to question Minnie's accusations.

Kate Chopin

I thought the three stories by Kate Chopin were very exciting. She wrote about, love, romance, scandal, race, and social class, and her stories were so unpredictable that I didn't know what to expect next. My favorite story by Chopin is called, "Desiree's Baby," because I was so surprised by the ending.
When I first started reading, "Desiree's Baby," I couldn't understand why Desiree was abandoned . The writing said, "The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Mais kept, just below the plantation." I couldn't tell if Chopin was trying to give us the idea that she was left by people who didn't want her, or if possibly, maybe slaves had left her their because she looked white, so they thought she could have a chance at a better way of living if a white family found her and adopted her.
Once Desiree was found by a loving family, it seemed like a fairytale. She was beautiful, in love, wealthy, happy, and pregnant by her husband who was everything to her. But shortly after the baby was born the fairytale started to crumble. I liked when Desirees mother looks at the baby and said in surprise, "This is not the baby," and Desiree just laughed at her reaction and began talking about how much the baby has grown. She didn't even realize that anything was different, she had just thought that her mother was surprised at how much the baby had grown. I think that shows how much Desiree had cared about and loved her child.
When I read the end of the story I was so surprised. I never would have thought that Desiree would take her baby and walk into a body of water, never to be seen again. I believe she did that because her husband meant everything to her, and without his love for her and their child she felt that she had nothing worth living for. She was in shock, and I don't think she fully new what she was doing at that moment because if she was aware, I don't think she would have ended her babys life. She could have reaised her baby at her mothers house, and provided a great life for it just like she had. I was also shocked when I read the last line of the book, "night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery." That means that Armand was just like Desiree, his mother was black and his father white, but because they were both light skinned they never knew it. Thats why the baby was born so dark. Armand had drove Desiree to her death by making her feel so ashamed of where she had come from, and all along he came from the same place. I wonder if he'll hate himself for what he is, just like he hated his own wife and child for being of mixed race. I still can't understand why he acted that way towards her when he found out that she was of mixed race. If he loved Desiree and his child so much, why wouldn't he let love overcome his feelings of hatred for a different race.
At the end of class on Friday, I heard someone mention that they didn't believe Desiree had one black parent and one white parent, they thought that Armand was the one that caused thier child to be darked skin. I agree with that. In the writting Desiree said, "Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray," And my skin tone is fair," "Look at my hand; whiter than yours." I believe that Desiree was the pure one, and it's sad that she had ended her life, along with her child's life, just because of how Armand had made her feel, which was ashamed of herself. I know that Desiree wouldn't even care that her husband was of mixed race, but she was never able to find out the truth.

Frederick Douglass

I found this reading to be very upsetting for me to read. There were even a few parts that made me tear up. I got a horrible view of what slavery was like by reading about the life of Frederick, who was born into slavery and taken away from his mother before he turned one years old.
While Frederick was describing the horrible acts of violence he witnessed while growing up, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of person could do something like that. The slaves were abused so much, even though they worked so hard and obeyed their masters. They were treated as if they had no feelings at all. The part that bothered me the most was when Demby ran into the creek and stood at the depth of his shoulders to get away from being whipped by Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore told him that if he wasn't out of the water by the count of three he would be shot. Demby was tortured so much by getting whipped that he couldn't take it anymore, so he ran to safety and refused to come out even though he knew his life would be ended by his choice. That part made me really upset. Slaves should have never had to suffer like that.
The part that I liked reading about was when Frederick taught himself how to read and write. He had so much hope and passion to continue to learn how to read and write, even after Mrs. Auld stopped teaching him. Mr. Auld told his wife to stop teaching Frederick because it was unlawful and unsafe, and he would become unmanageable to them and would be useless to keep. Then Mr. Auld said, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an eel," and I loved when Frederick quoted that in his writing once he learned to read and write because it meant that he had come so far on his own to learn , even though he could have gotten into a lot of trouble if he was caught. He was very clever too. Especially when he used to tell the white boys that he could write better then them, and ask to have a contest to see who would win. He did that just so he could have a chance to learn new words. He had so much determination to learn to read and write, and he did it.
At the end Frederick managed to escape the awful life of slavery. This was his second time trying, and he succeeded. I enjoyed reading that part as well. But I couldn't figure out where he met his wife, Anna. In his writing he said that he wrote to her immediately after his arrival to New York, so he must have known her from somewhere, but I couldn't recall reading about her in his writings.

Edgar Allan Poe

Once I started reading, "The Fall of the House of Usher," I soon realized that I enjoyed reading this better than the other assigned readings. In the beginning, the way the house was described along with how he talked about his friend Roberick Usher, really caught my attention. I knew that there was something strange about that house and his friend right from the beginning because something strange had to be going on for for him to be so effected by seeing the house and his friend again.
My first impression was that Ushers sister was already dead. But then as I continued to read on, she made an appearance by walking down the hall. I soon became confused because I didn't know whether she was deceased or not. Even after I have finished the literature, I still don't know exactly what happened to the sister. But I do feel that Usher was suffering from some mental illness based on him not leaving the house because he was so scared, thinking that something is keeping him there. Along with what he does with his "so called" dead sister. I also found it strange that the doctor never said a word about Ushers medical condition, maybe he suffered from the same mental illness that his sister suffered from, which went undiagnosed.
Before the sister was put into her entombment, I found it strange that she still had color to her face, along with a slight smile of the mouth. Based on what I read, it seemed to me that she didn't look dead at all. All that I could think of to explain this situation was that maybe she was faking, playing a prank on her brother. But would she really let the prank go on knowing that she is becoming enclosed in a tomb? Then I thought that maybe she had some kind of disease that temporarily paralyzed her. But if that were the case how would she have gotten out of the coffin that had a screwed on lid, along with being enclosed inside copper doors? In less maybe Usher went back to mourn over her again and didn't tightly close the coffin and lock the door again when he left.
Another strange part in the literature was when the book that was being read to Usher seemed to be coming alive. Next thing you know, the dead sister is standing in the doorway and falls on Usher, which resulted in both of their deaths. It all seemed so strange to me. I feel that Usher imagined all of this due to all of the stress that happened in his life, his parents dying when he was so young, and then the loss of his sister who was all he had left. With no friends or family to turn to, he started to go a little crazy. I think he actually believed in his mind that all of the events that took place in the literature was real, when it really wasn't. Maybe even after a few months of the narrator living in that house, he too, eventually became a little crazy and started to believe everything was real.

Thomas Jefferson

While reading about Thomas Jefferson, I had a little trouble with trying to understand how he truly felt about people of different race. It seemed to me that he talked so openly about this subject, and that he used words to describe the natives and African American people that seemed very harsh to us, but weren't to Jefferson as he wrote them. In class we talked a lot about how raciest Jefferson was, but I see it differently.
On page 35 and 36, Jefferson wrote about his feelings towards the native Americans. At first, I thought that Jefferson thought very little of the natives, especially when he referred to the natives as, "barbarous," and referred to the whites as, "civilized." But he also wrote that he was a defender and a critic of the native land, recognizing the many differences between the whites and natives. He also wrote that he cited many positive attributes of American Indian culture. I don't think that Jefferson was trying to speak about the natives in a bad way, I feel that he just used the word "barbarous" to point out the differences between how the whites lived and how the natives lived, the whites being far more advanced in their way of living than the natives were.
When Jefferson wrote about the African American people, it seemed to me that he had mixed feelings about them. Jefferson's writings were a little confusing to me on page 36, but I interrupted as him not truly knowing how he felt about slavery. He seemed to want everyone to be free, but because there was so much prejudice against African American people in that time, along with so much hatred, he didn't know if freeing slaves was the right thing to do, being afraid of race wars.
On page 47 and 48, Jefferson compared the white and African American people. At first I couldn't believe how he talked about the African Americans. He wrote, "They have less hair on the face and body. They secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. This greater degree of transpiration renders them more
tolerate of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites." It seemed very harsh to me and made me a little angry, but after I read on I felt differently. I don't think that he meant anything negative about the African American people in that statement. I believe that he was just trying to compare the two different races the best way that he could. Which is why he also talked about the positive things about African American people. If he had so much hatred about them, why would he even bother to write anything good about them. Plus, when he used the word "disagreeable" to represent their odour, I felt that he was trying to think of a nicer way to say that they had a bad odour (I believed that was mentioned in class). But he didn't take into consideration why their physical appearance was like that, which was due to them working so hard as slaves.
The one thing that I couldn't understand is why Jefferson hated Phyllis Whately so much. It seemed to me that Jefferson couldn't even criticize her poems because he thought she wasn't worthy enough. Was it only because she was black? Maybe he was more raciest then I originally thought.

John Smith

I found the reading about John Smith to be very interesting, although it was hard to understand at sometimes. I believe that once John Smith discovered that life in Virginia was full of opportunities, he began to forget about the reasons that made him leave England. Once he was elected president of the council, he established a, "tough-minded, practical regime that stresses social order, the general welfare, and long term goals rather than the quick profit motive," which drove many of the colonists to come to Virginia in the first place. He didn't believe in all of that in England, but once he became in charge they became his ways. Smith is doing the same thing to the colonists of Virginia that he didn't like in England.
When Smith was sent back to England after being severely injured in a gunpowder explosion he began convincing the people of England to move to Virginia so they can have a better life because of the unlimited material and moral benefit. But he didn't take into account that the natives were their first.
I feel as though Smith was trying to change the natives to much, especially by trying to covert them to Christ.
As I was reading the last part of the story that talked about Pocahontas saving Smith, I couldn't help but wonder how much of that part is true because it's difficult to know which parts of Smiths life are fact or fiction. But I like to believe it's true because it's nice to see the whites and natives uniting as one.